Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Confronting corporal punishment in the black community

Photo form glogster.comIt’s been
hard for me to listen to the lunatics who justify the way Adrian Peterson
disciplines his children.It’s a point
of contention that has always troubled me.Spanking children is so engrained within the fabric of black culture
that to do otherwise is considered evidence of bad parenting.

The late
Bernie Mac joked about beating children to the white meat.Most people in those rooms have stories about
running from a switch, having to get their own switch, hiding from a switch or
being beat so hard that it took time to recover.

The truth is
most of that is abuse.As painful as it
may be to admit that, what’s behind how black people feel about corporal
punishment?

The Bible encourages it

The Bible is
used to promote corporal punishment.My
friend Eric Michael Dyson, professor at George Washington University,
challenged the literalist interpretation of the Bible in his New York Times
op-ed Punishment or Child Abuse?

“Like many
biblical literalists, lots of black believers are fond of quoting Scriptures to
justify corporal punishment, particularly the verse in Proverbs 13:24 that
says, ‘He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to
discipline him’,” Dyson writes. “But in Hebrew, the word translated as “rod” is
the same word used in Psalms 23:4, “thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
The shepherd’s rod was used to guide the sheep, not to beat them.”

The reading of
the Bible from its historical/cultural context, while taking into account the
nuances of Hebrew versus other translations, makes it clear that the Bible isn’t
justifying corporal punishment of children. Beyond the uncovering of the
meaning of the text, one must ponder the ethics of corporal punishment.

This is the
point where the WWJD movement becomes a vital instrument.Can you image Jesus spanking a child, and if
so, what would be the context behind him doing so?

It’s a part of black culture

Fifteen years
ago, in a column written in the Durham Herald-Sun, I argued that corporal
punishment replicates the punishment of slavery.Michael Eric Dyson offered the same during a
recent interview on MSNBC.

“Black people
were beat and hit in slavery,” Dyson said. “Some slave parents, especially
women, had to beat their kids in front of the slave master to prove that they
could go along with the slave master’s intention and keep them from being
rebellious spirits. …As a result of that, we began to absorb that practice,
collectively speaking, and we’ve reproduced it.”

Embedded in
black parenting is the notion of protecting children, especially boys, from the
dangers of society.Beatings are used to
teach boundaries.Boys are reared within
a culture of fear, which is, according to Dyson, the reproduction of the
pathology of slavery.

I endured it, and I turned out okay

Personal
testimony is used to validate the practice.Education and other measures of success are used to justify the benefits
of corporal punishment.There’s a
significant problem with the argument. The mental health conditions of those offering
the testimony suggest a different conclusion.

Is there a
correlation between the excessive use of corporal punishment and cases of
domestic violence?How about substance
abuse and the massive dysfunction that plagues relationships among black
people?As much as we want to suggest
that we turned out alright, the truth is we, black people, are more damaged
than we are willing to admit.

I use the
pronoun we to claim my own journey to counter a myriad of mental health related
issues.That’s not to suggest it’s all a
consequence of corporal punishment, but is stated to accept not being alright
after enduring my share of walks to pick out my own switch.

That’s how white people think

This is the
part that is most difficult to address.We carry loads of disdain related to the things lost due to
integration.As much as we celebrate the
vast improvements following the Civil Rights movement, there is the suggestion
that we lost more than we gained.

A big part of
that regards the culture of the community.It is true that many of us born in the 60’s and 70’s were nurtured by a
large village.We were loved and spanked
by community grandparents, aunts and uncles who were granted permission by our
parents to whip that ass. We take pride in being loved by our village
families.

Yes, we take
great pride in being loved like that.Those spankings reflect a culture of care.It’s like that eagle that stirs the next –
big mama has an eye on the babies.This
is what it meant to be black before we became rooted into the culture of white
privilege. We lost something meaningful when the objective was in replicating
the life and ways of white people.

It’s part of
the nostalgia of black life before the suburbs and integrated schools.It’s what makes us different.Spankings are something we share, and it’s
hard to let it go.

Black life in the context of postmodern
inclusion

All of this
suggests a need for a new model related to parenting.It requires critical engagement with the
Biblical text, deeper reflection involving the pathology of slave culture
within our contemporary context, an evaluation of the mental health conditions
of black people, and ways to embrace memories that create space for the release
of all the pain.

1 comment:

Indeed, as Michael Dyson has noted, severe corporal punishment does replicate the conditions of slavery. But before we go too far down that road, let's also consider that such punishment is not solely the province of blacks, but is also seen in the poor white communities. Thomas Sowell, in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals, notes that a propensity for violent response to perceived slights, whether by children or peers, is common to both groups. This is not a new idea, but has been noted by many black scholars previously. So, is severe corporal punishment a product of biblical admonition, black culture derived from historical slavery, or merely poverty/ignorance?

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina